Embers
by Wakefire
Summary: Being the Chief of Police and protecting the Republic city, Lin Beifong has no time for the matters of the heart. But as the Equalist threat rises, so do her feelings for Kira, a once runaway street kid turned into a friend. But what exactly is Kira's connection to the non-bending extremists, and what does it mean to their relationship? Femslash, Lin/OC
1. Prologue

A/N: I started this fic back when Season 1 was airing, but only now decided to finally start publishing it. Originally I fell in love with Lin's character and wanted to write her someone that adores her like she deserved to be adored, but then the idea spawned an actual plot. A fair warning, this story will be quite long, but I daresay it's worth it.

A word about the format: the prologue and the first tree chapters will be set a certain amount of years before the beginning of the series, respectively. I realize it might seem like a huge load of backstory, but it's all part of the story and integral to the development of Kira's character and her relationship with Lin.

Reviews are much appreciated. (I eat them for breakfast.)

**PROLOGUE: Waterdrops**

_13 years ago_

Water glimmered in sunlight as it flowed serenely along the creek, circling around the rock that stuck above the surface, blissfully unaware of its impending fate until a pair of feet jumped into it and splashed it all around. For a moment the air over the water burned, boiling hot around the gathering flames until they shot forward, scorching the splashed drops in its way and ending in a satisfying fizz twenty feet or so away.

"Well? Did I hit it? Did I hit it?" the little girl asked, jumping up and down while she tried to untangle the piece of cloth tied around her head. "Tell me, I can't see with this blindfold on!"

"Isn't that the point of being blindfolded?" teased the boy standing on the dry grass beside the creek. Excluding the difference in hairstyles, everything about him – from the amber of his skin to jet black hair and bright, golden eyes – was the spitting image of her.

"Stop being an ostrich horse's ass, Haru, and just tell me!"

The boy laughed. "Okay, you hit it, alright!"

The girl finally got off the blindfold and her face broke into a wide, partially toothless smile at the sight of the rock in the middle of the river. Or more precisely, the heap of ashes on the rock that had just a few seconds ago been a crudely human-shaped doll made of straw and wigs.

"Alright! I am a firebending master!" she proclaimed, pulling all four feet of herself into multiple poses. "I'm the Avatar, bitches!"

The boy on ground crossed his arms and huffed. "You can't be the Avatar, doofus!"

"Says who?" the girl asked.

"Says that Aang was still alive when we were born!" he argued. "Think about it, Kira."

The girl stopped flailing around and pouted in deep concentration. "Well... maybe I'm so good, I'm early?" She stuck her tongue out. "I'm still a better bender than you, ostrich horse's ass."

"No way!"

"Yes way!"

"Yelling 'yes way' doesn't make it any truer!" Haru rolled his eyes as his sister trudged out of the creek and wrung water out of her pant legs. "Come on, we gotta get back, dinner's gonna be ready soon."

Kira shook her upside-down head. "I wanna practice more. The bending competition is next week and I still haven't perfected my killer moves."

"But you know dad doesn't like us bending by ourselves in the forest! If you set something on fire again, he's gonna be so mad."

"He won't know if no-one tells him," she remarked in a sing-song voice, the obvious threat sparkling in her eyes. "Seriously, if you tell him I'm so gonna scorch you."

Haru waved his hand dismissively. "Whatever. I'm going home, you stay here. Just know that I'm not gonna make excuses for you."

"Fine, you go!"

"I'm going!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

Kira breathed heavily, her brow furrowed as she watched her brother's back. She muttered unflattering things beneath her breath and kicked a pine cone; it flew into the bushes in a beautiful arc. Then she shook her limbs to relax them, fell into yet another pose and ignited fire upon her palm.

A twig snapped.

Reflexively, with the instinct of generations of bred warriors, she turned around and shot. Fire erupted from her palm, speeding through the air like a baseball. The man standing on the twig dodged it casually by leaning slightly to the left. Kira gasped.

"You should be more careful with your fireballs, sweetie," the man said. His voice was muffled by the blue cloth over his mouth and nose, which together with his robe in the same color hid most of his face. Even though Kira couldn't see anything of the man save his eyes, she was sure she had never met him before; he even sounded foreign.

"I'm sorry," she said, although her eyes narrowed and a pout rose on her lips. "Who are you and why are you on our land?"

"Aren't you a curious little thing?" the man asked and chuckled behind the cloth.

Maybe it was just all the warnings about strangers or a childish, base suspicion, but there was something about his chuckle that made shivers run down Kira's spine and her feet start stepping backwards without conscious effort. She got one step back, two, three before she suddenly found she couldn't move anymore. Every muscle in her body was frozen solid like she had been encased in ice. She tried to bend, but none of her fingers produced so much as a twitch. The suspicion turned into naked fear and Kira struggled to fill her lungs with air, although it felt, by spirits, like she couldn't even _breathe_ properly. She stared up at the man who did nothing more than stand there, one of his hands raised as if about to strike her.

"What are you doing?" she screamed. "_Hel-!_"

That same hand slammed over her mouth and effectively muffled her cries. The man knelt beside her and brushed a lock of hair out of her face, unaffected by the way her pupils turned into tiny fearful dots.

"Tell me... that boy who was here, he's your brother, isn't he?" he asked, his voice a low rumble in her ears. Too afraid to tell a blatant lie, Kira nodded for what the grip allowed. "Now here's what we're going to do. I will let go, and you will stay put. And you won't scream. Because if you scream, your brother might hear and rush to your rescue, and we wouldn't want anything to happen to him, would we?"

Kira's eyes went, if possible, even wider. A cold feeling that had nothing to do with her paralyzed limbs enveloped her heart, stinging like tiny needless in its racing center. Slowly, as if the universe itself had decelerated in that moment, she squeezed her eyes shut, a drop of water rolling down her cheek and onto the hand over her mouth. She nodded.

Again the man smiled – somehow, she could _hear_ it through the cloth – and slowly detached his hand from her mouth. At the same time, she felt the grip on her limbs fading away. "I didn't hear that, what were you saying?"

"Okay," Kira whispered, her voice cracking as it hit the lump forming in her throat. Her legs trembled, but otherwise she stood absolutely still as the man stood up, his blue form towering over her. "What are you gonna do to me?"

The man raised his hand again and Kira flinched, but he merely pressed his thumb against her forehead, almost gently. "Don't worry," he said. "This will only hurt for a moment."


	2. 1: Oranges

**CHAPTER ONE: Oranges**

_10 years ago_

It was an ordinary Monday morning in the Republic City. Cars were rolling along the streets, vendors were trying to outyell each other's offers, the sun was blasting merrily from the bright blue sky and threatened to boil Lin inside her armor. Its doubling as a kettle was one of the few, but very obvious disadvantages of being encased in steel and thick leather from the neck down. Had she been one of the less motivated police officers, she might have theoretically considered ditching her arm guards or some other part of the uniform. But she was Lin Beifong, and she wore an impeccable uniform all day, every day, even when it was boiling hot.

"Thief!"

Apparently, the armor would be needed.

Lin jogged around the corner. There was a small grocery store there, the kind with a door and one measly window in its front side. She heard more yelling from the inside, the sound of wood smashing into something and... was that an entire shelf falling over? Then, before she could take a single step towards the open doorway, a red blur crashed through the window, shattering glass and melons all over the paving. The blur threw a somersault and landed more or less on its feet, but the following vendor was less lucky; trying to swing a broom as he jumped, the man got caught in the window frame by his stomach.

There was a fleeting moment of general 'what on earth just happened' where everything stood perfectly still. The blur turned its head from the stuck vendor to Lin, and she realized 'it' was a skinny, black-haired boy in red robes who couldn't be more than thirteen years old. He was holding a bag bursting with food in one hand, and his eyes flew open as he registered the police uniform.

_Really? This was what I signed up for?_ Lin thought, but then the boy sprang, and she flicked her wrist reflexively, almost casually. A metallic wire shot towards the boy's sprinting feet and circled around them. It was such a routine move that the possibility of it failing hadn't even occurred to her, but somehow he managed to jump like a bull antelope and evade the wires closing in around his feet. Her eyes widened and then turned into slits as he ran on and disappeared around the next corner.

"What are you waiting for? Catch him! He stole my best oranges!" the vendor yelled, his voice a little hindered by his effort to get unstuck from the window frame.

"What do you think I'm doing?" Lin spat in frustration before she sprinted after the thief. This had got to be in the top five ways in how she didn't want to spent an excruciatingly hot Monday morning.

Luckily the boy hadn't got that far; Lin could still spot him in the alley. She dodged a stray cat as she increased her speed until she was close enough for the wires to reach. But again, the boy looked behind his shoulder and dodged the wires by an inch, and she had to stop to detach their sharp ends from the stone wall before she could continue. Lin cursed out loud.

The alley opened to a wide four lane street bustling with nine o'clock traffic. The choir of honking grew in volume when the thief ran straight to the street and Lin followed suit. Either the boy was incredibly foolhardy, risking to be ran over for a bag of groceries, or alternatively pretty smart, realizing that she couldn't bend in the middle of a busy street without risking to scrap some taxpayer's car. She tried her best to murder the brat with a mere gaze as she barely dodged a car, the same one whose hood he had jumped over just three second before. And now he was running right to the rails of an incoming tram.

"Stop, you idiot!" Lin yelled, because while she wanted to kill the kid at this point, she didn't want him to _die_. But either he was deaf or just giving her a middle finger of a response as he increased his speed and miraculously brushed past the tram rain by a hair's length. Lin grimaced as she hopped aboard the moving wagon from one side, muttered some 'excuse me's as she tossed people out of her way and leaped out from the other side, just in time to catch a sight of a corner of red cloth vanishing into another alley, one that she knew was a dead-end.

When she arrived at the alley, she saw the thief climbing up a fire ladder, holding the bag by his teeth. A fire ladder made of metal, attached onto a concrete wall. Lin smiled dryly as she waved a hand and the ladder bent like melted butter, causing the boy to lose his foothold and hang on the step by his hands. She shot a couple of wires to his general direction, to make sure he wouldn't fall down twenty feet on his head -

As something warm and clammy hit her face and made her lose both her concentration and her eyesight. Incredulous, Lin wiped egg white from her eyes and gritted her teeth. Meanwhile, the brat managed to scramble on top of the remaining ladder and haul himself on the rooftop.

That was it, the brat was officially dead. Wiping the residue egg from her palm on her sleeve, Lin used the ladder to swing herself on the rooftop. The boy startled as he saw her and began his sprint towards the other end of the roof, but Lin raised a single, strategically placed tile in his way. His right foot tripped on it and he fell gloriously, right over his face judging by the yelp. He still tried to crawl away, but she shot wires at him for the fourth time and tangled him up good.

"Give it up, it's over," Lin said as he still tried to struggle free.

"Ngggh," the thief replied, knuckles bone white as he pulled at the unrelenting steel. The reality of the situation eventually dawned on him as he stopped struggling, dropped the grocery bag and curled into a little ball, hiding his face behind his hands. The voice coming from behind the hands was high-pitched and wailing. "Okay, okay, I'll give it back. I'll give it all back – and I'll fix the window – just please don't hurt me, please."

The pleading continued as a lonely orange rolled slowly along the roof. Curious and admittedly, quite satisfied about the change of tone, Lin loosened the wires a little bit as she walked towards the culprit. He lowered his trembling hands a bit and stared at her wide-eyed, and suddenly she realized something that made her stop in her tracks. Well, two things, more correctly.

One, that 'he' was actually a young girl with a short and quite messy haircut.

And two, that the girl was absolutely terrified of her.

The first surprise Lin could set off with a shrug. The latter, however, was more difficult to understand. She had tied the girl up but that was standard procedure, that wasn't a sufficient reason for all that shaking and whimpering and the pure, unbridled terror shining in her eyes. Lin was well aware she could be intimidating but come on, that was ridiculous.

"Hold your horses," Lin said, the worst of her irritation faded from her voice. "It's not like you murdered anyone, you just stole a few oranges. Come on." She waved her hand and the wiring shifted, forcing the still trembling girl onto her feet. "Let's get you down from here. I'll let you walk if you promise not to try anything stupid."

* * *

><p>The subjugated state of her prisoner lasted for the entirety of the trip back to the police headquarters and not a minute longer. Lin threw the girl into an interrogation chamber and went to wash off the remains of dried egg from her face and hair. When she came back, she found the girl curled up in her chair, hood pulled over her head and the rigidity of her posture signaling the air of being extremely pissed off. Lin huffed. What was the girl thinking, that the robe was some kind of an invisibility cloak?<p>

Lin bent the door closed in her wake and slammed the notepad on the table. The girl turned her head away in indignation as the police officer dropped down on the seat at the opposite end of the table. Lin tilted her head and snapped her fingers, causing the wire around the girl's wrists to undo itself. There was no thanks, just an annoyed glare as the girl rubbed the feeling back in her hands.

"So," Lin started, "Mr. Miyagi is very enthusiastic about pressing charges for the broken window and the loss of..." She read the text on the notepad. "Three oranges, two eggs and a bottle of milk, among other things. Do you have anything to say in your defense?"

She still didn't receive a verbal answer, just a shrug. Lin gritted her teeth and rubbed her forehead, her fingers hitting another missed spot with dried egg white on it. She picked it out, her frown deepening, and regretted not transferring this case to some unfortunate rookie.

"It's an easy question," she continued to the brick wall of a brat. "Why did you steal from his shop? For fun? Or did someone tell you to?"

"I was hungry, okay?" the girl snapped. "No other reason."

She curled tighter in her chair, holding her knees against her chest. It happened that a low, long rumble escaped from the girl's stomach, echoing loudly in the metallic room. She bit the nail of her thumb to hide her cringe.

_Wow, she really is hungry._ As an idea occurred to her, Lin bent the door open as she heard another officer's approaching footsteps. The fellow peeked into the room.

"Noga. What's in the canteen today?" she asked.

"Um... beef and mushroom, I think," the officer replied.

Lin nodded. "Bring a plate here, will you?"

The man left, a slightly puzzled expression on his face. The girl looked at the open doorway with widened eyes, but when Lin caught her staring, she turned her head away and sunk, if possible, even lower in her chair. Unimpressed by her behavior, Lin crossed her arms and studied her prisoner. The girl was skinny and looked like she hadn't seen a bathtub for a while. What was visible of her skin had a slightly golden hue, a color which only multiplied in the eyes glaring at her angrily from beneath the mess of black hair.

"You look like you're from the Fire Nation," Lin remarked.

"So?" the girl spat.

"Are you?"

"...Yeah."

Lin huffed. What was it about this girl that was incapable of sentences longer than one syllable? "Your attitude could be better," she said dryly.

"What do you expect? I just got caught by someone old enough to be my mom," the girl grumbled.

Well, that was not the kind of more-than-one-syllable response she had wanted. Lin's eyebrows furrowed and she was about to shoot back something very unfriendly when Noga came back with a food tray. Everything about the girl livened up suddenly, her nose peeking out from under the hood like a dog's muzzle.

"Here you go, Chief," Noga said, laid the tray on the table and left. Lin pushed the food tray towards the girl, not that she was sure the brat deserved it anymore. The girl's eyes shifted between the tray and the police officer, suspicion and hunger fighting over her expression in a way that was almost comical.

"Eat," Lin urged. "It's no use to me if you collapse in the middle of the interrogation. It's not poisoned, for gods' sake!"

The girl looked like she really, really wanted to refuse, but a thin trail of saliva had begun to gather at the corner of her mouth. Like a feral animal, she lunged at the tray and grabbed a piece of bread, cramming it whole in her mouth before it could be taken away from her. She coughed up a little and had to beat her chest not to choke on the bread, after which she continued feeding at a slightly less frantic pace. Lin smiled and grabbed the notepad again.

"Let's start with something easy," she said. "What's your name?"

"Khih-" The girl paused, gulped down some water and swallowed a big piece of mushroom. "Kira. My name's Kira."

That sounded believable enough by what Lin knew of Fire Nation names. She wrote it down. "How old are you?"

"Twelve."

Lin marked the number in another column. "What are your parents' names?"

The chopsticks stopped in mid-air and the hood seemed to drop lower by itself. "I don't have any," the girl muttered before stuffing her mouth with food again.

Lin's pen halted. "What about your other relatives? Or your guardians, anyhow?"

Kira shook her head in a barely visible gesture. Lin sighed again, because this was going absolutely nowhere.

"Well, where do you live?"

The girl shrugged. "Wherever," she mumbled and reached for the glass again.

It was only then, as the right hand extended from beneath the sleeve, that Lin spotted it: an irregular, bright red mark on the back of the hand, continuing on to the wrist before it disappeared under clothing. Lin would have recognized that kind of mark anywhere; she had met Zuko enough times not to forget his.

It was burned.

"Who did that to you?" Lin asked.

Kira startled and retrieved her hand quickly, the glass almost falling over as it hit the tray. "Nobody," she said far too quickly.

"Don't lie to me."

"I'm not lying! I – I poured hot water on it, it was an accident."

Lin gave the girl a sardonic glare, because that was the worst lie of the century, but Kira didn't budge. She took the half-empty food bowl and curled up in her seat again, as if she could hide and fade from sight behind her scraped knees. Lin was having a hard time deciding whether she was feeling sorry for the girl or growing mad at her utter lack of cooperation.

"Alright, here's the deal," Lin said, letting the notepad fall on the table as she leaned forward. "As much as Mr. Miyagi would like to see you prosecuted, you're too young to go to trial. Normally we would bill your guardians for the damage, but since you don't have any..." She let a hint of doubt creep into her voice, but got no response. "I'm going to contact the orphanage. They'll come pick you up."

"No!"

The bowl hit the floor with a loud clank, flying rice all over the floor, as Kira shot to her feet. She looked alight with panic and fury, her fingers digging into the table, like a lightning had just struck her.

"You can't do that!" the girl exclaimed, the pitch of her voice climbing up by at least an octave.

"I can and I will," Lin replied calmly. "It's standard procedure in cases like -"

"No, you don't understand!" Kira shouted. "I can't go there. I'll do anything – I'll get money somehow, I'll pay for the window – I'll never do anything bad ever again! Just please don't make me go to them."

Lin gazed at the girl curiously. Her golden eyes were glimmering in the green light of the room, every inch of her face etched with desperation.

"What's so bad about them?" she asked. "I know the system's not flawless, but -"

The girl bit her lip in hesitation, until she eventually took a deep breath and looked down on the floor. "Because I know how the system works. They'll check for missing kids, and then he – the one who did this to me -" she raised her right sleeve on purpose. "They'll give me back to _him_."

A deep, profound silence descended in the room. Lin stared at kid in a temporary loss of words. It wasn't the first time she had to witness first-hand what kind of things some adults were ready to do to a mere child. It just never got any easier.

"But if I don't put you in the system, you can't get a roof over your head, either. Then where are you going to go?" she asked quietly.

Kira shrugged and smiled a small, mirthless smile that made her look years older for a split of a second. "Somewhere. Anywhere. I'll be alright, honest, just don't make me go back. I can't go back." She batted her watery eyes and casted a pleading look at the police officer, the kind that was specifically designed to wrench a heart out of its place. "_Please._"

Lin turned her eyes away and huffed, crossing her arms. They stayed like that for the longest time, her sitting down and the girl perched over the edge of the table, waiting. Finally Lin waved her hand and Kira flinched, but no wires shot out; instead the door burst open.

"I'll let you off with a warning. But you need to behave, or you're going to the system faster than you can yell 'help!'"

The girl looked at the door and back at the police officer, her eyes as big as plates. "Really? You're just – letting me go?"

"Yes, really," Lin said. "Now _go_ before I change my mind."

"Thank you thank you _thank you_!" Kira giggled and bounced in place for a moment, rice gluing into the bottom of her sandals, during which Lin feared that she would jump over the table and hug her or something. Fortunately nothing like that happened, and the girl got herself back together. "You won't regret it!"

"Better not. I never want to see you again, you got that straight?" Lin asked sternly.

"Of course! Never! Promise!"

Kira nodded earnestly and sprang towards the doorway. However, she turned back after a couple of steps, grabbed the remaining piece of bread from the tray and grinned before she really left, almost silent footsteps fading into the corridor. Lin shook her head as she took the notepad and scribbled something vague under the column titled "Resolution". She had a bad feeling that someday she would come to regret this.


	3. 2: Breaking

A/N: Thanks to everyone who followed, commented and/or added this story to their favorites!

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER TWO: Breaking<strong>

_6 years ago_

The day had been largely uneventful until the afternoon when someone knocked on the Chief of Police's door. There had been some kind of a ruckus in the hall before that, but seeing that it was the police headquarters, there was always some kind of a ruckus in the hall. Lin raised her gaze from the paperwork when Officer Huang's head appeared in the doorway.

"Yes, what is it?" Lin prompted. She had too much work to do to waste time in people standing mute in her doorway.

"Eh, I'm sorry, Chief, but we caught the pair that had stolen that motorcycle," Huang said, pulling at the neck of his uniform.

Lin raised an eyebrow. "And since when have you had to report the result of every investigation directly to me?" she asked.

"Oh no, Chief, that's not it," Huang said quickly. "It's just that... well, one of them demands to speak to you. She's quite adamant about it."

Before Lin had time to ask who could possibly deem herself that important, something pink pushed past the police officer in the doorway. That something turned out to be a teenaged girl in a bright pink skirt and jacket, and a complimenting, albeit fury-induced blush on her cheeks. Her hair was wound up in tight dark brown curls and she did look somehow familiar, although vaguely.

"This is an outrage!" the girl proclaimed. "My father would never allow this! Uncuff me immediately!"

She rattled her handcuffed wrists and looked at the Chief of Police with the kind of exasperated indignation that only a teenager could muster. Lin answered it with an unimpressed glare. Sometimes she couldn't believe her mother and mother's friends had been saving the world at that age.

"Mariko, shut up, you're making it worse!" yelled a different voice as yet another, darker-colored figure sneaked between the small space between Huang and the door. And this one – this one was definitely familiar. "Let me handle this."

_Oh for the mother of gods -_

Girl number two stepped forth from behind the first girl's back, which had been a futile hiding place anyway because she was taller. She was dressed in black and dark blues from head to toe, but the smile that broke on her lips was all sparkle and sunshine.

"Chief Beifong, hi!" the girl said. "We haven't seen in, what, three weeks? It's been forever!"

"Kira," Lin groaned, burying her face in her hands for the sheer amount of frustration that had just flowed into her.

"You know her?" wondered the other voice, far too audibly to be a genuine whisper. "So is she gonna release us or what?"

"I told you, shut up!"

Slowly, Lin uncovered her face and straightened her back. "Huang, you're dismissed," she said, and the officer disappeared in record time, slamming the door closed after him. "You two, _sit down_."

With the ease of someone perfectly accustomed to the situation, Kira walked over to the chair in front of the Chief's desk and dropped down on it, settling herself into a comfortable position. This Mariko girl, however, stared at the chair like it was dirty until Lin gave a little kick to the floor, causing the floor beneath the girl's feet to tremor just enough to send her on her behind in the chair.

"Now," Lin said as she leaned on her elbows, "whose fantastic idea was it to steal a motorcycle, especially since I'm guessing neither of you is of age to drive one?"

"We didn't really steal it," Mariko replied, shuffling in her seat. "We just borrowed it for a while."

The corners of Lin's mouth tightened. "And I gather returning it after it had been soaked in a fountain was part of the deal all along?"

"That was not my fault! Kira told me she could drive it!" Mariko said, pointing a judgmental finger towards the other girl.

Kira, who had been pretty much lounging and staring at the ceiling for the entirety of the exchange, glanced at her accomplice and grinned. "I told you I could drive it, I never said I could do it well," she said, shrugging.

"Enough!" Lin's fist connected to the table, making both girls jump several inches into the air. "I've had it with your antics! You -" She pointed two fingers at Kira, "are up to your neck in trouble and you -"

She never had time to finish her threat to Mariko, because the door burst open again. An older, big-framed – horizontally, not so much vertically – man stood in the doorway, dressed in one of those expensive fancy suits which still paled next to the red color of his face.

"I guess when I set up those doors, I was just wasting my time," Lin muttered under her breath. But she did realize now why the girl looked so familiar. The man was Ueta Ido, the manager of the biggest bank in the city. So the girl must be -

"Why is my daughter in handcuffs?" the man bellowed, gripping the girl's shoulder. "I demand she be released immediately!"

"Your daughter is in handcuffs because of vehicle theft," Lin replied coolly. "She will be released after due process."

"Theft! My daughter is not a thief!" Mr. Ido said. "This is clearly a misunderstanding. Come on, Mariko, let's go."

Mariko looked at her father over shoulder. "Well, daddy, actually..."

"Actually what? You don't need to steal, I can buy you ten motorcycles when you're of age. Or twenty!"

"It's not..." The girl cringed and seemed to shrink a few sizes. Seeing the deepening color on the man's face, Lin was just about to cut into the exchange when another voice spoke.

"She's right," Kira stated brightly. "I mean, what she's trying to say is... I did it. It was my idea, I dragged her into it. None of it is her fault. Chief, you can arrest me but let Mariko go. She didn't do anything."

The girl seemed very sincere – that was, the perfect image of sincerity, with big eyes, slanted eyebrows, pouting lower lip and all. Lin had met her way more often than she would have liked, and the girl had never looked like that, not once.

"You!" Mr. Ido seemed to only now register the other girl's presence in the room. He let go of Mariko and advanced towards Kira, his heavy steps shaking the floor. "I should have known this is your fault! It's always you!" With surprising agility, he grasped the collar of the girl's shirt. "How many times have I told you to stay away from my daughter?!"

There was a whiz and a snap, and the man's thick wrist became tied with metallic wire. Lin was standing now, staring at him very sternly beneath her eyebrows.

"Let go of her," she ordered.

Mr. Ido turned his angry gaze at her. "She's been corrupting my daughter for months! You should lock her up, she's like... like an eelsnake!"

Lin's fingers dug into the table and the wire tightened. "I don't care whom she's been 'corrupting', you are not assaulting a minor in my office," she spoke, her voice more of a growl now. "Let. Go."

The man's grip loosened, though it might be because of the loss of feeling in his hand. Kira dropped back in her chair and smoothed out her shirt like nothing had happened, even though there was a small tremble in her hands. Mr. Ido rubbed his hand and took a deep breath, forcing the color on his face to fade a little.

"Very well," he said. "But my demand – _wish_ still stands. She confessed, my daughter is innocent. I presume she has no reason to stay here imprisoned any longer?"

Lin turned her attention to Mariko, who had thus far seemed content to stay out of sight and out of mind. "Is it true what Kira says? That you had no part in this?"

The girl opened her mouth and looked at her friend from the corner of her eye. Kira smiled and nodded. They tried to be stealthy about the exchange, but unlike Mr. Ido, Lin had no trouble spotting it.

"Yes," Mariko said quietly, hanging her head. "It's true."

Lin huffed as she crossed her arms. The handcuffs on the girl's wrists undid themselves and floated onto the table. "Alright. Since you're _innocent_, you can go."

Mr. Ido looked far too satisfied for Lin's liking, but at this point she was just happy to get rid of him before she would have to press charges. Mariko whispered goodbyes to Kira, at which point the man quickly shoved his daughter out of the doorway before him and slammed them shut afterwards. Kira made rude gestures at the closing doors. The silence that set in the office was remarkable compared to the situation half a minute ago.

Lin leaned against her desk, examining the girl who had curled more or less into a ball formation, blowing hair strands out of her face like she was bored with all the time in the world.

"Tell me, is she really worth getting locked up again?" the Chief asked.

Kira glanced at her, golden eyes shining under the black veil of hair. "Yes."

Lin sighed. "Alright. Lead the way. You know where to go."

* * *

><p>The prison system of the Republic City was divided into two sections: short-term and long-term. The first, located in the police headquarters, was mainly for overnight guests, drunks passed out on the streets and the like, and people who were in hold for a period of investigation. The latter was for actual, convicted criminals. Technically, since her newest offense had granted her a lot more than two weeks, Kira should have been tossed into the long-term section instead of her usual cell. She had asked Chief Beifong about it when the woman had locked her up. The Chief had merely paid her an unamused glance and told her – directly quoted – that Fire Nation would freeze over twice before she would throw a fifteen-year-old in the same cell block with thugs and murderers.<p>

Frankly, with her little display at the office, Kira had been more than surprised. The woman must have had nerves made of titanium. It was pretty admirable.

She laid on the metal slab next to the wall that was supposed to function as a bed, lolling her head over edge and counting the tiles in the wall. There were 127 of them. She had been in the same cell so often it could have as well had her name on it. She did hear the approaching steps in the corridor, but didn't pay any more attention to them. It was about time they brought her dinner.

"Kira?"

Kira's eyes widened and she sat up so fast that her neck snapped, sending little jolts down her spine. "_Mari_?"

Mariko's blue eyes shone softly in the dim lighting as she rose on her tiptoes, searching for the other girl in the cell. Kira scrambled to the door, her hands closing over the carefully manicured fingers around the bars.

"Mari," she breathed, a ridiculous grin rising on her lips. "Do you have a plan?"

Mariko frowned in confusion. "For what?"

"For busting me out. I have a couple of my own, I've had a lot of time to come up with them", Kira explained. "But seriously, how did you even get in here? Did you finally learn to pick locks?"

Mariko uttered a small laugh and shook her head. "Didn't need to. I can be pretty persuasive when I want to." Her pretty face became serious again. "I'm sorry you had to go to jail for me. I'm sorry I let you."

Kira twisted her arm until she managed to slip it between the bars and under Mariko's chin, lifting it until the other girl would look at her again. "Hey, it's okay. I'm used to it."

"Still. I'm sorry," Mariko said. Then her expression brightened a little. "But, I convinced dad to pay for the bike to the guy we took it from, so at least you don't have to worry about that."

"Great," Kira smirked. "I didn't have quite that much in my savings."

They both laughed, leaning their foreheads against the bars until their front hair got tangled, straight black strands and chocolate-brown curls.

"Anyway, it's not like they're keeping me here forever," Kira continued. "I'll send you a message once I get out, okay?"

Mariko fell out of her tiptoes and bit her lip. "Yeah, that's why I came. I... I needed to tell you," she said. "Kira... I can't see you anymore."

Kira shrugged. "I know that. I didn't expect you to be able to visit me at all."

"No, I don't mean while you're here. I mean – ever."

Kira's breathing ceased for a short moment, during which Mariko unwound her fingers from hers and took a step back. She hung her head, letting her hair fall over her face.

"Kira, daddy's right," Mariko said quietly. "This... thing we have – it's not right. We have to sneak behind my parents' backs and we get in trouble all the time – and I'm not blaming you for that, I know like half of those ideas were mine – but... I want to get married someday and have kids and grandkids and that can't happen if I'm with you."

Kira swallowed, her lower lip trembling. "Are you – are you breaking up with me?"

Mariko looked away and wrung her hands. "It's not really breaking up, I mean – we're not even together together, we're both girls. It's not real."

"Yes it is! My feelings for you are totally real and I'll beat up anyone who says otherwise!" Kira argued. "Why do you think I went to jail for you?"

The brunette took another step back, her lower lip trembling as she wiped her eyes with her cloak. "Kira, I'm really sorry," she whispered. "Goodbye."

Mariko turned around and ran off, quickly disappearing from sight. Kira pulled at the bars as if she could bend them with sheer physical strength and willpower.

"Mari – Mari wait!" she shouted, the muscles of her arms spasming. "Wait!" Her palms numb from the grip, she slowly stopped pulling. "Wait." Her fingers disentangled themselves from the steel, her nails scratching invisible marks into the doorway. Tears were already streaming down her face before her head connected with the steel bars.

"I love you," she whispered.

By some minimal thread of sense, Kira waited for the sound of a closing door at the end of the corridor before slamming her firsts into the steel door. It was several inches thick and wouldn't budge under flesh and bones, but she kept punching it until and after the skin on her knuckles broke and left small flakes on the door. She stopped only when the escalating sensation of pain faded into broken, senseless numbness. Slowly, her feet turned her around and she fell down, burying her face in her knees as her sobs ripped themselves out of her chest, echoing in the cold stones of the cell block.

* * *

><p>The metal on Lin's feet clattered as she marched along the corridor of the holding cells. The prisoners had just been given breakfast, so the space was filled with sounds of munching and slurping. But when she stopped behind cell number seven, it was both dark and utterly quiet. If she hadn't known any better, she might have thought the girl had escaped during the night.<p>

Lin opened the door. The light of the corridor revealed a dark lump on the bed and an untouched food tray that she nearly walked on when she stepped inside. If the lump hadn't had a small ascending and descending movement to it, it would have looked like it was dead. Kira might have pulled all kinds of tricks before, but a hunger strike certainly wasn't part of her repertoire.

"Get up," Lin ordered. The lump proved itself deaf. Annoyed, Lin waved her hand, and the lid on the window slid aside, letting sunlight flood the room. Kira whined, curling herself even tighter. "I said, get up. I am not asking the third time."

The lump shifted. "Am I getting out yet?" it mumbled.

"After only a week? No, you're not," Lin replied dryly.

"Then shut the door and leave me here to die."

Lin raised her eyebrows as she leaned against the wall. If the girl's ability to frustrate her had left any room for other feelings, she might have begun to grow worried. She reached towards the bed and slowly detached half of it from the wall, raising the side with a head on it until the girl was more or less forced into a sitting position.

Kira looked, to be frank, like a dog that had been kicked into a gutter. Several times. Her hair was a partially oily, partially dry mess that clung to her back like an animal in itself. Her skin was devoid of color, save for the purple rings around her eyes where every vein shone bright red.

"What is the matter with you?" Lin asked impatiently.

"Nothing," Kira muttered, her voice raw and dry, and raised both her hands to rub or shelter her eyes from the light. Her knuckles were covered with dried blood and pieces of broken off skin.

Lin huffed. She had asked – if the girl didn't want to respond, it was her own problem. Still, Kira's hands looked bad enough that she couldn't fight the tiny bout of concern that pushed her frown deeper.

"We need to have a talk," she said.

"Okay," Kira replied. No snide remark, no arrogant gestures. That level of cooperation was disconcerting.

"You're turning sixteen soon," Lin continued. While the exact date was anybody's guess since the girl always gave a different one, it was inevitably approaching.

"Yeah. So?"

Lin dropped the bunch of papers from her hands next to the girl on the bed. It was quite a thick stack, and the resulting sound echoed in the cell. Kira didn't even look at it.

"That's the list of your offenses. It's the length of a fire ferret if you wrote it all down on one paper," Lin said. "And that doesn't contain all the things we've linked you in, but lack evidence for. Now, I know you're all too well aware of that you can't be put under trial as a minor." The girl made a small, impassive shrug. "But the moment you turn sixteen – you cross the line once, even with the tip of your toes, and you're going down not only for that but all of this."

Lin waved her hand over the stack of papers now scattered over the bed. Kira finally showed some life signs as her posture straightened and she looked up at the Chief.

"Wait - what?" the girl asked. "Really?"

"Yes, really."

Kira stumbled on her feet and would have fallen straight on her face if Lin hadn't caught her. The girl tore herself away and spun around, seemingly staying standing by sheer willpower rather than any actual energy.

"But – I don't – why doesn't anybody tell me these things?" she yelled.

"I'm sure somebody has. You just didn't listen," Lin replied dryly.

"Oh gods," Kira winced. She dropped down on the chair in the corner and buried her face in her hands, wincing again as her hair brushed against the broken skin. "What am I gonna do? I'm not gonna get out till I'm thirty..."

_You could just, I don't know, not break the law again_, Lin thought laconically, but didn't say it out loud. She knew it was about as far-off possibility as the North Pole melting.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about," she said as she walked closer to the nearly hyperventilating girl. "There is a way for minors to clean their records before turning of age of criminal responsibility. Though I'm pretty sure you're not up to it in the... condition you're in."

Kira lowered her hands and grumbled, "Who said I'm not?"

Lin suppressed a satisfied smile as the girl played straight into her hands. There was the spunk that she had grown used to, instead of this wailing ghost-like creature. It would make this a lot easier.

"I said it," Lin said. "Look at you. You lay here comatose in the dark and refuse to eat. Face it, you're not up to it."

"Blast your opinion!" Kira exclaimed as she shot up from her chair, crossing the distance between them. She rose on her tiptoes in a futile attempt to reduce the height difference and nearly snarled at the Chief's face. "I don't care what it is, say what I have to do and I'll do it! We'll see who's up to what."

This time Lin didn't hold off her smirk. She crossed her arms and looked down at the girl. "I'll let you out of this cell now. You will report to me tomorrow, eight o'clock, sharp." She turned her back to the fuming girl and added, as an afterthought: "There's a doctor on the third floor. Go show those hands to her. You can't do anything if you lose your fingers."

* * *

><p>It was seven fifty-five in the morning when Lin felt a presence outside the doors of her office. She put down her pen and bent the doors open, revealing the person who stood in the doorway.<p>

"Morning, Chief!" Kira beamed, waving her bandaged hand. She still looked tired, though a bit less so than the day before, but at least she was clean.

Lin blinked. "Oh. You're here," she said flatly. It was a bit surprising that the girl had shown up; she would have bet that Kira would come back her senses or her rebellious spirit and rather shake the dust of the city off her feet than work for the police. The girl apparently followed the Chief's line of thoughts, as she lifted up her chin and narrowed her red-rimmed eyes. It seemed that Lin had managed to tap into a vein of long forgotten, deep-buried Fire Nation pride inside the girl.

"Yeah, I'm here," Kira replied. Then she rubbed her hands together and her face broke into an excited grin. "So, what am I gonna be doing? Tracking escaped prisoners? Catching Triad thugs? Oh, oh, do I get to drive one of them awesome police motorcycles?"

Lin smiled shortly. "Not exactly."

"Stupid Chief Beifong," Kira mumbled. "Stupid police force. Stupid age of criminal responsibility. Why the heck did I sign up for this?"

She was slowly advancing along a corridor on the first floor of the police headquarters, dragging a bucket full of water with her. It was pretty murky at this point, and she wasn't even halfway through. Chief Beifong had directed her to a cleaning lady, who in turn had put a mop and the bucket in her hands and told her to start from the first floor. To scrub the floors, wipe off the dust, empty the trashcans of every corridor and room that wasn't locked. And not to snoop around or, under any circumstances, touch anything.

"I should burn this whole place down," Kira muttered as she sunk the mop into the bucket, lifted it back up and wrung it until it wasn't splashing water everywhere. The muscles of her arms were starting to ache, probably from the combination of monotonous movement and lack of rest and nutrition, and a blister threatened to pop on the skin between her thumb and her forefinger. She was _this_ close to abandoning the mop and sneaking out, but something kept her put. Namely the fact that she didn't want to give Chief Beifong the satisfaction of getting to say "I told you so".

Kira arrived at another open doorway and peeked in. It was a dim, medium-sized room that had a lot of cabinets and shelves filled with miscellaneous equipment, some kind of a storage space. There was also a police officer there, a young man who had his eyes glued to a document of some sort. Kira knocked on the doorframe.

"Hey, um – I'm supposed to clean up here," she said. "So, can I come in or...?"

"It's okay," the young man said and looked at her over his shoulder. He seemed really young, he was probably a total rookie in the force, but he had a familiar face. Kira guessed she'd been arrested by him once or twice. His name was something like... Yon? Or Yuan? "Knock yourself out. I was just leaving anyway."

"Thanks," Kira said, her voice dripping sarcasm as she dragged her equipment in. She dropped the bucket down next to the doorway, wet the mop and begun to scrub.

Officer Yuan – she decided it fit him better – put the papers in his hands back to their file. He was on his way to an open cabinet when he stopped and stared at her. "Hey, have I seen you before?"

"Possibly," Kira said with a noncommittal shrug.

Yuan snapped his fingers. "I _have_ seen you before," he said brightly. "You're here to off your offenses, aren't you?"

Kira sighed; there was no point in denying it now. "Yes," she admitted and couldn't help glowering at the man. He had the nerve to laugh at her.

"It's cool," Yuan said. "Or, well, the cleaning never gets cool. But I've been in the same place."

Kira's mopping halted and she frowned. "But... you're a police officer. How can you have a record?"

"I don't have one anymore. That's the whole point. I did some stupid stuff when I was younger, but the Chief offered me a chance to clean up my act," Yuan explained. He rummaged around the cabinet for a bit, pushed the file in its place and pulled out another one.

Kira looked at the murky water dubiously. "So this is like... what, Chief Beifong's unofficial recruiting channel?"

Yuan chuckled. "Usually not, so you're probably safe. Just stay on her good side and you should get by just fine."

"She has a good side?" Kira wondered. She had a really hard time imagining the existence of such a thing. "Anyway, I think I'm as far from her good side as it's physically possible."

Yuan laughed. "Well, she's gotta have some reason to let you scrub yourself a clean slate," he reasoned.

Kira shrugged, not wanting to think about that woman anymore. Chief Beifong was on her way to becoming her least favorite person, especially since the blister on her hand just popped and she bit her lip to suppress the wince over the added pain. She mopped her way through the room, not paying much attention to the young man shuffling behind her. A minute or two passed in silence until she reached the shelf at the back of the room and was about to turn around when her eyes hit something.

"What is that?" Kira muttered to no-one in particular. She let her mop leaning against the wall as she carefully picked up the object of her curiosity. It was a simple steel bracer, except that it had raised compartment, some kind of a device in the middle. A three-way grapnel hook was sticking out of the narrower end. There was a little rust on the corners of the bracer, but the device itself was well-oiled.

"Don't they tell you guys not to touch anything?" Yuan's voice suddenly asked behind her.

Kira jumped and quickly laid the bracer back on the shelf. "Sorry, I was just... dusting it off?" Yuan chuckled, his brown eyes dancing with amusement. Kira rolled her eyes. "Okay, bad lie," she admitted. "But what is that thing?"

"It's a cable launcher," Yuan said as he picked the bracer up and turned it around in his hands. "All the police used to have bracers like these. Of course, the non-benders couldn't bend the metal wires, but they're still useful with a little aiming skills. But then the mechanism was moved to the back of our uniforms, so non-benders stopped using these and the metalbenders didn't really need 'em anymore."

"Awesome," Kira remarked. "How does it work?"

"You put it on your arm – well, it's pretty small so it doesn't fit over mine, but anyway – and if you're not a metalbender, you push this button over here." Yuan's explanation stopped pretty abruptly as he cast her a suspicious look. "Why are you so interested?"

"No reason," Kira lied with wide eyes. Yuan laughed.

"Sure," he chuckled. "Anyway, I really have to go now. Seriously though, don't touch it. It hasn't been used for years, I don't even know if it works anymore."

Kira nodded earnestly when Yuan turned to leave. She waited for his footsteps to fade away and listened for anyone else approaching, but heard nothing. Snatching the bracer again, she pulled it on her right arm, ignoring the pain when it rubbed against her healing knuckles. It fit like it was made for her. Falling into a steady, wide-legged stance, she pointed her hand towards the notice board made of corks on the wall and pushed the button.

Nothing happened and Kira sighed out of frustration. Of course it wouldn't work, Yuan had just said so. More annoyed than actually trying to fix it, she hit the button repeatedly until -

"Whoa," Kira breathed, and then, "Crap."

The bracer was in working order, after all. The bad news was that it had shot the metal wire towards one of the cabinets, and the grapnel hook had dug itself into the wooden door with no problem. Kira pulled her arm back, but the wire didn't give in an inch. Hitting the button again wouldn't work, either.

"Crappity crap," Kira hissed. She walked over to the cabinet, and while the wire would neatly wind itself back into the launcher, the hook itself wouldn't budge. She took a good hold of the wire, as near to the grapnel as she could, and pulled. The cabinet itself swayed a little, but the hook stayed put.

"Oh come on, this should not be this hard!" Kira muttered. She lifted one of her legs and pressed her foot next to the problem spot, hopping further on her other foot to get a more steady position, and pulled hard.

The grapnel hook... still wouldn't budge. The cabinet, however, rose off its back feet and started to fall right towards her.

"Oh sh-"

There was a very loud rumble when a heavy wooden cabinet and all the files inside it did a ninety-degree relocation. Three police officers, one of whom was Yuan, ran to the room to find out what had caused such ungodly noise. Two of them lifted the cabinet back on its feet and Kira slowly rose to her elbows, rubbing the back of her head.

"I'm okay!" she announced and looked at the bracer on her arm. "Hey, I got the hook out!"

* * *

><p>Kira's knees were hurting. While she had been longing to get her hands on the police motorcycles for the entire time, this was not the way she had wanted it to happen. She had been blessed with the task of washing and polishing all the vehicles stored in the police garages, starting from the bikes and advancing to the bigger stuff. (Of course, they didn't let her anywhere near the bikes without first checking twice that none of them had keys in them. She had seen best not to mention that she could start most bikes and automobiles from the cords.) She was hoping it was some kind of twisted humor from Chief Beifong's part, because there was no way she would manage to wash those zeppelins.<p>

Cursing under her breath, Kira forced herself up, walked the couple feet over to the next bike and sunk back on her knees, wiping sweat off her forehead. The sun was shining straight through the windows of the garage, gluing her top on her back, and the splashing water took care of the rest. She was pretty sure there wasn't a spot on her that wasn't either wet, sweaty or dirty.

"How's it going, Pepper?"

Kira wiped hair out of her face and looked at the young man in the doorway of the garage. She held back the urge to stick out her tongue at him.

"Seriously, can you stop with the nickname?" she snapped. "And it was Blue Volcano habanero, by the way."

Yuan shrugged. "Pepper's pepper."

"Maybe to you, you don't seem able to tell. I never would have thought you policemen are so squeamish."

After the incident with the bracer and the cabinet, Kira has been briefly assigned to help in the canteen. Emphasis on the word 'briefly', because one of the cooks had told her to season a casserole and, well. The casserole had been a huge hit among the officers that had Fire Nation ancestry; among the others, not so much.

Yuan chuckled and ran a hand through his hair as he walked closer. "But really, how are you doing?"

"Seventeen bikes done, fifteen to go. In this garage, anyway," Kira sighed. "Could be worse. I spent the last week scrubbing bathrooms. I guess I got promoted because for once, I didn't break anything."

"Explains why I haven't seen you lately."

"Why, because you don't go to the bathroom?"

Yuan's ears reddened and Kira felt a mad dash of satisfaction. She threw the sponge back into the bucket, wrung it dryer and returned to scratching off bird poop from the otherwise shiny black surface.

"So did you have something to do here or were you just gonna stand there and watch me suffer?" she asked when a minute or so had passed in silence.

"Oh. I was... going on a patrol," Yuan replied quickly. "Except that I just realized it's tomorrow, so... I guess I'm gonna go now. See you 'round, Pepper."

Kira muttered something similar, resisting the urge to throw the wet, dirty rag on Yuan's neck when he left, but the bird poop needed it slightly more. Idly she scratched the back of her neck; she was pretty sure she was allergic to something in the detergent, because small, itchy bumps had begun to randomly appear on certain parts of her skin. Her fingers hit the lock of the silver chain and before she could catch it, the whole thing had dropped straight into the water bucket.

"Oh no," Kira gasped and delved her hand after it, searching around the grey water until her fingers found the metallic object. Quickly she lifted it out of the water, worry etched on her face as she examined it. It was a golden locket with a small clasp to its side, ornate and probably very expensive. Normally she wore it closely hidden under her shirt, but since she had shed her outer shirt in the heat, it had been dangling free.

Carefully Kira pried the locket open, praying that the picture inside wouldn't be ruined. It wasn't. The locket had been tight enough to shelter the inside from the water. However, that didn't help much in sheltering it from a saltier variety of water leaking from her eyes.

It was a photography of her and Mariko, their cheeks pressed together so they would fit in the frame. They had ran off to a photographer's parlor one day, the kind that didn't ask questions as long as it got paid. They were both smiling, Mariko even wider than the girl next to her. She looked happy. They looked happy.

Kira closed her fist around the locket so tight her palm was hurting. She bit her lip, rocking back and forth as she tried to contain the wail that threatened to tear itself out of her chest. She hit her closed fist to the nearest available surface, which happened to be the side of the bike. There was a small sound of scratching metal, but it wasn't the sound that worried her.

No, that was the sound of three hundred pounds of steel slowly tipping over.

Kira watched in a strange state of horrified mesmerization as the motorcycle she had been washing fell over, hitting the side of the next bike in the row. And so on, like gigantic domino pieces in slow motion. By the third or fourth bike, her brain had caught up on the fact that she should maybe do something. She sprang to her feet and raced the falling bikes, slipping between the one just tipping over and the one next to it.

Kira managed to hold the bike from falling, even though it meant she was trapped in an awkward position, sandwiched between two heavy vehicles. There was no possibility for her to get out; that would have required lifting all the seven bikes in the row simultaneously.

"Oh come on, how can this even happen?" Kira winced, hoping desperately that someone, preferably a metalbender, would come to the garage soon and save her. Not Chief Beifong, though. She'd rather die there than let the woman witness this mess.

* * *

><p>The next morning Kira was late. After being sent home early yesterday because of her... accident, she had spent rest of day wandering about the city, arguing with herself. Eventually her steps had led her into a pawnshop, whose owner had first accused her being a thief (she had never even been there before) and then tried to cheat her out of her money.<p>

Mariko's locket would feed her for a month, or two. Kira wasn't certain, she had never owned that much money at the same time in her life. She had stashed it rigorously on the first dark hours of the night and spent the remaining hours tossing and turning in her makeshift bed, feeling both very proud and incredibly sad. It was like a tiny animal was gnawing at her heart, leaving behind an empty spot that couldn't ever possibly be filled again.

So Kira had slept in and now she was late, galloping along the streets in speed that made the air at the bottom of her lungs burn. She took a couple of shortcuts and ran about third of the time on rooftops, but the journey still felt like it took forever. Only about a mile or so from the police headquarters she ran into a dense crowd and scoffed in annoyance as she pushed herself through it, until she found herself in the first row.

The crowd ended in a police line, a couple of officers standing on the other side, keeping people in line. There were a lot more officers and at least four police automobiles gathered around the three-story block of flats. Kira noticed that all its windows were dark and had no people visible.

Kira jumped up a couple of times, searching for a familiar figure until she found it. Making sure the coast was clear, she slipped from under the police line and scurried towards the Chief who stood behind one of the police vans.

"Hey, Chief!" she panted, still a little out of breath, as she appeared at the woman's side. "Sorry I'm late, I overslept, I – what's with all this fuss?"

Chief Beifong stared at her, only now having noticed her presence, and her brows lowered into a deep frown. "Kira! What are you doing here?"

"I was going to the station, but I got blocked by the crowd," Kira explained, shrugging. "What's going on?"

"Nothing that concerns you," the woman replied, her frown deepening as she started walking towards another car. Kira followed her like a shirshu.

"But – I can do something!" she argued. "Isn't that what -"

Suddenly a fireball shot out of the window on the second store. Of course, Kira had no time to see where it had come from; she hardly had time to turn her back and shelter her face by reflex, bracing for the contact.

It never happened. The pavement before them rose up from the ground, taking and withstanding the heat of the flame until it died out. Kira blinked, looking from the pavement to the woman beside her holding up her right hand, an expression of accustomed concentration on her face.

"Whoa," Kira breathed, a grin spreading on her lips. "Thanks."

Chief Beifong glowered at her and gripped her arm tightly, dragging her from the fire line to safety behind one of the vans and all but threw her against the car's side.

"There are six criminals and twenty hostages in that building!" the woman yelled. "I have no time for your antics and no time to save your hide! Stay right here and don't move a muscle, or I will throw you into a cell for the next thirty years!"

Kira swallowed and shrunk down a couple of inches; she had seen Chief Beifong mad before, but never _this_ mad. The woman's eyes were flaring like green flames and she suddenly looked several feet taller. Kira nodded earnestly and, after the Chief left her there, sunk down on the ground, her legs trembling. She inhaled deeply, calming her breath, not paying much attention when Yuan appeared from behind the corner and sat down beside her.

"Afternoon, Pepper," the young man grinned. "Did you get detention?"

"I never get to do anything exciting," Kira huffed, although she was still a little shaken up from getting yelled at. "Shouldn't you be there playing hero or something?"

"Not yet. We can't just storm in there, we must guarantee the safety of the hostages."

"Sounds annoying," Kira remarked.

"It is," Yuan replied. "We've already been here for three hours. You gotta admire the Chief's resolve."

Kira peeked around the corner of the van. Chief Beifong was the only officer standing out in the open, talking into a megaphone while dodging or warding off fire and ice and flying rocks at the same time. If the woman had been at it for hours, no wonder she wanted to kill her. It occurred to Kira that this was the first time she had seen Lin Beifong handling a truly dangerous part of her job. She had forgotten about that part, having been under the woman's scorn mostly for shoplifting and other mishaps. She wondered what kind of character it must take, to do that kind of job every day, to endanger oneself willingly for the wellbeing of other people.

"Yeah," Kira muttered. "You do."

She fell back against the van, suddenly feeling ten times worse about rushing in like an idiot and requiring Chief Beifong to save her. Which the woman had done, without a second thought. Yuan cleared his throat beside her and ran his hand through his hair – again – as if he was terribly concerned about his appearance while they were in the middle of a hostage crisis.

"Listen, I was thinking – I know this is a bad place, but..." Yuan started. "I hope I'm not coming off as a creep, tell me if I am and I'll drop this immediately, but – your birthday's coming up soon, isn't it? That's why you're doing this now?"

"Yeah," Kira replied, wondering what was supposed to be creepy about asking her about her birthday. Of course, she'd lie if Yuan asked the exact day, but he didn't know that.

Yuan smiled, a small dimple appearing on his left cheek. "Because I was thinking – hoping that you'd let me take you out on your birthday. Whenever it is."

_Oh._ "Err..." Kira blinked several times, unconsciously shifting a couple of inches farther from him. At a moment's notice, all those times when the young officer had just hung around and teased her got a clear explanation. In hindsight she guessed that she should have maybe realized something before, but – it's wasn't like the possibility ever occurred to her. Yuan had been nice to her, for a policeman, and she figured he fell into the category of a 'cute' guy. It was just that...

"Everyone, into formation! We're going in!" Chief Beifong's voice suddenly yelled. Yuan shifted from 'cute guy' form to 'metalbender squad member' mode in an instance, pulling his helmet over his head and hopping onto his feet, running out to the street. Kira let out a long, relieved sigh.

There was a rumble of footsteps running to two directions, out of the house and into it. Kira peeked around the corner again, taking in the scene of hostages scrambling towards the safety of the few remaining police officers outside. She stood on her feet and stretched her limbs, figuring that the imminent danger was over, but staying right where the Chief had left her to make sure she wouldn't get into trouble again. She was bent in two by her waist, looking at the world upside-down when she spotted it.

A man had just jumped out of the window, landing into the small alley next to the building. He had bright red hair and his right arm was covered in gang tattoos. Gazing around, the man took off, running away from the scene.

"Hey, I think -" Kira started, but then realized no-one was there. She circled around the van to the nearest police officer, pushing her way through the ex-hostages gathered around him. "Listen, there's a -"

"Not now, kid, I have work to do!" the man grumbled. He was one of the policemen who were not so nice to near-outlaws like her, thinking that their presence at the station somehow tainted its good name.

"Well blast you too," Kira mumbled, slinking back towards free space. She rose on her tiptoes, searching for the tuft of red hair still visible at the alley. She bit her lip, her nails digging into her palms as the fear towards Chief Beifong and the will to freaking _do something_ fought inside her.

Finally, the fear lost.

* * *

><p>The redheaded man was quick on his feet. Even though he left behind a thin trail of blood, probably from cutting himself with the window glass, it didn't seem to slow him down. It didn't help him, though, that the direction he had taken off into was practically a puzzle of randomly scattered houses, later added wings and lots of pointless dead-ends.<p>

Fortunately, Kira was quicker. She was gaining in on the guy, who had in all probability noticed her at this point, although she was hoping he hadn't got a very close look.

There was maybe twenty feet of distance between them when the man turned around another corner. Kira grinned, because it was clear he did not know where he was going, whereas she had quite a good map in her head. Living on the streets had its perks, apparently. She took a couple more running steps and leaped, hanging on to a balcony and climbing up its railing.

An old woman was drinking tea inside the apartment the balcony belonged to and blinked at her owlishly.

"Sorry. Police business," Kira breathed before she jumped up, got a grip at the edge of the rooftop and pulled herself up. She sprinted to the other side and dropped down, staying in the crouched position as she landed. She heard the frantic beating of feet approaching, sneaked behind a trashcan and wrapped up her right sleeve, revealing the steel bracer under it. She lifted her arm at the approximate height of knees, pointed it at the opposite wall and pressed the button.

Two seconds later the man arrived, tripped into the wire and threw a beautiful double somersault before smashing on his face into the road. Kira detached the hook from the wall – it was a particular flick of a wrist that did it, it had turned out – and stepped before the culprit, pointing the grapnel hook towards his head.

"Don't you dare move," she threatened in her best Chief Beifong voice. Which, admittedly, wasn't that stellar.

The man raised his head a bit, narrowing his eyes as he tried to focus his vision. "You're not a cop," he muttered.

"Very astute of you," Kira commented. Then the recognition hit her. "Wait – I know you! You and your friends locked me up in that jewelry store to take all the blame for it! You bastards!"

"Oh, it's you," the man said, a grin spreading over his face. His started to push himself up, slowly.

"I said don't move!" Kira yelled, stepping closer and targeting his forehead.

"What are you gonna do with that? You're not a bender," the man said. "And you know I am. So why don't you put the toy down, because I really don't want to hurt you."

Kira huffed, anger pressing her brows down. "Funny, seeing that you were ready to hurt twenty people like two minutes ago."

"Alright, I lied. Maybe I do want to hurt you."

Flames lit around both his hands. Kira had expected it, so she was able to dodge, backing of several feet before the man got himself up properly. For a fleeting moment, fear gripped her, the heat of the flame against her face and the flicker of memories in a deep, secret compartment of her brain. But she shook it off, masking her grimace into a smirk.

"Get over here and I will roast you!" the man shouted, gathering another bout of fire around his fist.

"Well, you can _try_," Kira mocked and picked up the lid of the nearest trashcan.

Taking a deep breath, she took a step towards the man. He shot at her again but she evaded it, taking a few steps on the wall before landing on the ground. She held off the next blast with the lid, feeling it getting hot in her hand so she threw it. A wave of fire flew in the air at the same time as the metal lid ricocheted from the wall. Kira dropped down in time by a hair; literally, since she could smell the end of her ponytail blazing off. The man was less observant and howled when the lid hit him straight to the side of his head.

"Too slow!" Kira exclaimed, jumping back on her feet. She dodged all the next blasts by running a full circle around the man, who, to be frank, wasn't relying so much on aim than just pure rage. "Come on, you can do better than that."

The alley became filled with roaring fire and nearly maniacal laughter. Mrs. Nitin next door took her cane and went to close the balcony door. With all these rude people, a citizen couldn't enjoy their tea in peace.

* * *

><p>After three and a half tiring hours, the hostage crisis was finally over. There was a distinct smell of smoke in the air and the top story of the building had crumbled, but there were no casualties, so Lin considered the operation a success. Her men were walking the criminals out, lining them up for the headcount. There was the boss, who was a powerful firebender, three earthbenders, one waterbender and...<p>

"Wait," Lin realized, speaking to no-one in particular. "Where is the sixth? The other firebender?"

"Right here!"

Lin turned to look towards a small alley where two figures were emerging, one standing up and dragging the other behind. The redheaded man was struggling to get out of the metal wire spun around his body, from ankles to his wrists, effectively tying him up and preventing him from bending. Kira was holding on to the wire around his feet, pulling him a few feet, stopping to wipe of perspiration from her forehead and pulling again.

"Okay, I'm done, this guy is blazing heavy," the girl announced as she dropped the culprit unceremoniously onto the paving. "Does anyone have water around here?"

Her hands turning into fists, Lin marched towards the girl. "Don't tell me you ran off after him by yourself," she said, her voice coming from somewhere low in her chest.

"And packed him up good, too. Glad to be of service," Kira replied, bowing down by her waist, an infuriatingly self-satisfied smirk on her face. Lin gritted her teeth.

"After I told you to stay put?"

The girl shrugged. "I did, during the whole hostage situation. But then I saw this guy run away, and nobody noticed nor listened to me, so I thought -"

"You thought what?!" Lin exclaimed, stepping forth and gripping the girl by the shoulders, shaking her a little. "That it was a good idea to chase a wanted criminal by yourself? You could have got yourself killed!"

Now Kira had the nerve to frown. "What's the big deal? I did just fine."

"He's a firebender!"

"Please," Kira scoffed. "You think I've never fought benders before? I can handle myself."

Lin fought the desire the throw the girl into the van with the criminals. Her eyes hit the metallic glimmer under Kira's right sleeve. The girl noticed that she noticed and tried to hide her arm behind her back, but Lin was faster and took hold of it, bringing it to her view.

"I am not even going to ask how you got your hands on this again," she said very quietly, her ire far too great for any amount of yelling to contain it.

At least the girl had the backbone to look ashamed. "I thought it could come in handy. I – I was going to return it."

Lin let go of Kira before she would break bones. She straightened her back, taking a deep breaths as she stared down at the stubborn, impudent, insufferable evil spirit masquerading itself as a teenage girl. She had several beginnings to a good scolding in her mind, but she doubted none of them would do any good; there were instances were words were insufficient. A couple of big rocks would suffice, but that was, unfortunately, illegal.

"I'm disappointed in you," Lin said quietly as she crossed her arms. For a moment, something glimmered in Kira's eyes before she hung her head, refusing to look her in the eye.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I just wanted to help."

Saying nothing, Lin turned around and took in on the scene. Seeing as the place looked quite cleaned up and the sixth criminal had been hauled off with the rest (she hadn't even noticed when that happened), she started walking towards her car.

"Get in," Lin ordered. "I'm taking you to the headquarters."

* * *

><p>The drive back to the police headquarters was horrible. Factually it wasn't a long trip, but to Kira it felt like it took a small, painful eternity. She sat at the edge of her seat, wishing she was an earthbender so that she could make the ground swallow her. There was a heavy weight in the pit of her stomach that made her want to puke, despite knowing it wouldn't help at all.<p>

Chief Beifong didn't look at her or talk to her. Kira wished she had; she would have taken any amount of scolding over this cutting silence. Heck, she would have rather had the Chief drive up to a secluded alley and beat her; she could see from the woman's whitened knuckles on the wheel that she wanted to. There was still a tiny, stubborn part inside Kira that thought she had done a good thing, catching an escaped criminal and bringing him to justice. It was like an ember left of an old roaring fire, slowly sizzling inside her, but she didn't bother to try and blow into it to make it flare again. She simply didn't have the strength anymore.

They arrived at the garage and the Chief parked the car, starting to walk towards the doorway without saying a word. Lacking instructions, Kira followed her, trying to make as little noise as possible. They were climbing up the staircase between the basement and the ground level when Kira suddenly stopped, clutching her chest. She couldn't hold it anymore, she had to puke up. Verbally, that was.

"Chief Beifong?" she said, her voice coming out weak and wavering. "Can I ask you something?"

The woman still wouldn't look at her, but at least she halted a few steps higher. "What is it?"

Kira moved her lips, trying to form her thoughts into coherent syllables. "Why are you doing this?" she finally asked, forcing the question out of her mouth. "Letting me cleanse my record, I mean. I know I've done absolutely nothing to deserve it. All I've done is messed up and annoyed you."

Chief Beifong was quiet for such a long time Kira was certain she wouldn't answer her at all. Why would she? She didn't have to, and she certainly had no reason to want to indulge her. For all she knew, the woman was on her way to throwing her back into a cell.

"Because," Chief Beifong suddenly started, her voice echoing on the stone walls, "despite everything you have done, I believe there is a difference between you and the thugs we arrested today. And I would rather keep it that way."

The woman turned enough to look at her over her shoulder, and Kira realized her eyes weren't burning with anger anymore. They looked... sad, almost. No, that wasn't the right word.

Empathy was.

Kira felt her eyes stinging irresistibly and her lower lip beginning to tremble. Chief Beifong was polite enough to continue on her way, leaving Kira in the staircase trying to stifle her sobs with her palm.

* * *

><p>The next day dawned with rain, heavy drops of water beating the windows, rumbling softly on the ungiving roof of the police station. For once, Lin heard the footsteps behind her door before she sensed them, because each of them made a wet slapping sound against the marble. Her fingers on the typewriter halted and she waved her hand, swinging the doors open.<p>

Kira entered her office without a word, slipping onto a chair. Her wet hair hung in front of her face like a curtain, hiding her eyes completely, and the downcast head didn't help. She sat there, immovable, silent, like a statue of someone long since dead.

Lin tensed. While she had tried, hard, to drill some sense into the girl, now she feared she had gone too far. It had been an unexpected sting in her heart to witness Kira cry; to see into something so deep, so vulnerable without even particularly trying to. Of course, she hadn't exactly seen it, but felt it in the tremor of the stone. The effect was the same. Lin didn't quite understand what she had uttered so harshly, but she was afraid she had gone too deep and broken something irreparably and irreversibly.

She cleared her throat and continued writing. "I told the front desk to send you here," she said.

"I know, they told me," Kira replied without raising her eyes. "What do you want me to do?"

"Nothing," Lin said. If there was a reaction to it, it was hidden behind wet hair and soaking clothing. "You're done. Your record is clean."

"Oh," Kira said. "Okay."

Lin didn't figure out whether it was "oh, this soon" or "oh, this late" or something entirely else. She moved the document in the typewriter lower, coming to yet another column to which she could only guess. While Lin was frowning, it escaped her notice when a smile crept slowly, sneakily on the girl's lips.

"You know, it's my birthday," Kira suddenly said.

"What?" Lin asked, distracted.

"Today is my birthday. Like, my actual birthday, not one of those I've just made up," Kira explained. She wiped the hair away from her face; the gold of her eyes was shining in the rays of light peeking from between the rain clouds.

Lin didn't say anything, just typed the current date sixteen years back on the 'Date of Birth' column. She filled out a few more spots, but it was quick work because now they were empty. When she was done, she carefully took the paper out of the typewriter and handed it to the girl over the desk.

"Happy birthday, then," Lin said, the corners of her mouth turning into a smile. "Take it as your present. Don't waste it."

"I won't," Kira replied. She stood up as she took her record, now as clean as pure platinum, and bowed deeply. There was no mocking in that gesture. "Thank you. I owe you one. I'll pay it back, someday."

Lin shook her head. "Please don't. I've had quite enough of you for a lifetime."

Kira laughed, with all the mirth and mischief Lin had ever seen her able to muster. "No promises. I don't want to start my adult life lying to the Chief of Police."

Then the girl left Lin's office, sandals slapping on the stone floor. And as much as Lin wanted her far and gone from increasing her workload and the grey percentage of her hair, she was left with a lingering feeling the police station would somehow be a little more peaceful and thus, more empty, without Kira.

Outside, the sky cleared.


End file.
